Arash Sadeghi Released from Rajai Shahr Prison
Published by Ali on May 12, 2021
International Liberty Association: Human Rights prisoner, Arash Sadeghi, was released from Rajai Shahr Prison, in Karaj. Mr. Sadeghi was released under Article 12 of the law on reducing sentencing, after serving 5 years and 6 months in prison, including his previous detention.
It should be mentioned that, he was sentenced by the Revolutionary Court to 15 years, of which 7 years and 6 months were enforceable with the application of Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code. Since Mr. Sadeghi’s previous suspended sentence of 4 years had been served, only 7 years and six months of imprisonment remained enforceable after sum up of the issued sentences.
However, despite the early release, Sadeghi’s time in prison has not been without cost. During the prison time, Arash Sadeghi had been denied the right to visit and call his wife, Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, a women activist prisoner in Amol Prison. The couple had been prohibited from visiting, despite legal provisions for meetings between imprisoned family members residing in different prisons. In 2017, Sadeghi went on a hunger strike for more than seventy days to protest his wife’s re-arrest, and the prolonged hunger strike caused irreparable damage to his physical health.
Unfortunately, while Mr. Sadeghi had been kept in Rajai Shahr prison, he developed a malignant type of bone cancer called chondrosarcoma.
ILA: It is worth mentioning that, Mr. Sadeghi underwent surgery to combat the disease, but prison officials denied him access to the tri-annual post-surgery treatment recommended by physicians, leading to myriad complications. The lack of adequate treatment, coupled with the permanent physical damage from his 2017 hunger strike had devastating effects; Sadeghi’s chrondrosarcoma returned, and he needed to undergo an additional 30 sessions of radiotherapy and kinesiotherapy.
This is the most recent release of Human Rights prisoner Arash Sadeghi, who has spent the last decade serving a series of sentences for his human rights work. Sadeghi was first arrested by Ministry of Intelligence agents in July 2009 in front of Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran along with several students protesting the 2009 election results. He was released on bail 90 days later. In 2010 he was re-arrested and imprisoned in ward 350 of Elvin Prison for 15 months.
Sadeghi was arrested yet again in 2014 by IRGC intelligence, and released on a bail of 600 million tomans in March of 2015. Finally, and most recently, he was arrested in June 2016 and sent back to Elvin Prison, and then transferred to Rajai Shahr prison, in Karaj, where he remained until his May 1st release.
Whether Sadeghi is able to recover from his time in prison remains to be seen, but a recent bone marrow scan test confirms promising signs in the body.
